Work to improve A529 Mount Pleasant crossroads praised by Government officials

Work to improve the Mount Pleasant crossroads on the A529 near Market Drayton has been praised by officials from the Department for Transport (DfT), who now plan to highlight the work in a report to Government ministers.

Work began on 1 October 2019 and was the first stage of work to improve safety on the A529 between Hinstock and Audlem following the award of £3.9m from the DfT Safer Roads Fund.

Work included the reprofiling of the junction, including new kerbing, all associated drainage, highway surfacing, road markings and traffic signs. The work was carried out by Kier, supervised by WSP and project managed by Shropshire Council.

In a meeting last week about the Safer Roads Fund, DfT officials said they were very impressed with the efforts of Shropshire Council and its partners to meet the aims of the Safer Roads Fund and reduce the number of casualties on what was seen as one of the most dangerous stretches of road in the county.

Originally expected to last for approximately four weeks work was completed more than a week-and-a-half ahead of schedule.

Steve Charmley, Shropshire Council’s Cabinet member with responsibility for highways, said:

“The award of this money from the DfT enabled us to carry out essential and much-needed safety work and reduce risk of injury or accident on this dangerous stretch of road. I’m delighted that our work has been recognised and praised by Department for Transport officials – and that they now intend to highlight this scheme in a report to ministers that will promote the benefit of the fund and the huge impact it has on safety, as well as the sense of achievement that results from doing the job so well.

“My thanks go to all the council staff and our partners Kier and WSP for helping to ensure the success of this work.”

The below ‘before and ‘after’ show the western approach to the crossroads, which is where the majority of collisions were happening.

‘Before’ picture. This shows how the give way lines were hidden from view due to the crest just before the junction, and how the road appeared to continue straight on, as the centre lines appeared to join up.

Mount Pleasant crossroads – before the improvement work

‘After’ picture. This shows how the crest has been removed and that the give way line is now visible with a distinct separation between the centre lines on the approach roads so the illusion that the road continues has been removed.

The Mount Pleasant crossroads after work was completed.

For more information go to www.shropshire.gov.uk/mountpleasantcrossroads.

Further information

To meet the aims of the Safer Roads Fund, Shropshire Council and partners also had to:

• Promote and utilise effective collaboration with multidisciplinary teams to achieve value for money and best practice
• Collaborate with developers on S106 schemes
• Demonstrate joined up working to minimise the impact on the public
• Go the ‘extra mile’ to uncover long lost highway assets such as lengths of carriageway and drainage systems